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November 2020 in Review

November 30, 2020

November has been an interesting month. It flew by for me just like much of 2020 has (the case for most people, I’m assuming). I can’t really pinpoint a specific day when I decided to be more conscious of this but I’ve actually made progress in building and maintaining good habits:

These are firmly cemented in my day-to-day life now and I’m really happy about that. Not to say that they aren’t a pain some days. I’m waiting for that magical moment where I do them completely robotically but that would be bad in the case of reading.

Speaking of reading, I’ve finally started and finished some books instead of jumping around! They are:

  1. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (Goodreads Link)
  2. Just My Type by Simon Garfield (Goodreads Link)
  3. Permanent Record by Edward Snowden (Goodreads Link)

I reviewed the first and third books on this site and recommend them both. Just My Type was a quick read and somewhat interesting but I don’t really recommend it. I’m hoping to read The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst later on to get a deeper understanding of typography. Just My Type was a little too surface-level and erratic.

I’m currently reading American Kingpin by Nick Bilton and enjoying it so far (about 6 chapters in). Bilton also wrote Hatching Twitter about the early days of Twitter. I enjoyed that book but it did seem like Bilton made it clear who he liked and who he didn’t. It’s a great read about the rise of one of the world’s most popular social networks, though. Well worth a read.

I’m planning on reading more on American history, political theory, economic theory, and philosophy as time goes on. The recent US election really lit a fire under me to understand our current political process and where it came from. It seems to me America is divided and I want to know how in-line this is with other times of division (slavery, suffrage, segregation). I’m worried about the future of my country and suprisingly so, considering I’ve always been apathetic to politics, elections, and most of American history.

One of my goals for December 2020 and all of 2021 is to be more physically active and recreate my earlier habit of lifting weights. I’ve had to opt for adjustable dumbbells since gyms are closed because of the pandemic (tried bodyweigtht fitness and it isn’t for me). I have a routine but I need to stick to it. And much more importantly, I need to think more about what I eat and why. That’s always tricky for me and it doesn’t help that I’m a terrible cook.

Here’s to a new month!